The managers' view: O'Sullivan and Glavin proud of stingy defences after securing SFC final places

Celbridge finally breached a nine year gap to the last time they featured in a Senior Championship final when they got past the challenge of Johnstownbridge on Saturday thanks to a controlled second half display, and their manager Trevor O’Sullivan is delighted to be leading them back into the biggest game of the club calendar in Kildare.

They’ve lost five semi-finals since they were county champions in 2008, and now they are back for the big occasion O’Sullivan wants to make a mark.

“It’s superb; we’ve had a few occasions in the past where we didn’t get there and it’s disappointing so it’s great to be back there, but finals are there to be won and we’ll prepare as best we can for that day,” he said after the game.

“We certainly believed in ourselves all year and certainly believed we’d be there and it was all about going out and putting in a performance on the day. It was a good controlled performance in the first half and in the second half we really got on top, and when we did it’s important that you take those scores and there was some superb scores in that second half.”

The most eye-catching aspect of Celbridge’s performance was the fact that they completely shut out a Johnstownbridge attack that had been firing on all cylinders throughout the 2017 championship. Paul Cribbin’s four points from midfield offer Brian Flanagan’s side some hope, but the remainder of their attacking outlets were well stifled by a disciplined and powerful opposition defence.

“A lot of people would have talked about the firepower that Johnstownbridge have no doubt,” noted O’Sullivan.

“They started off there today with 50 per cent of the starting Kildare forwards, so it’s not pie in the sky; they’re fantastic forwards. But we have a defenders aswell that we have huge confidence in that they could win those battles, and when it comes down to it in those big games, can your defenders match those quality forwards? Thankfully today they did.

“Those lads really stood up for us, but they’re top quality players as well. Every day you go out it’s about performing and beating your man number one. You can have all the gameplans in the world, but you need to win your 50/50 battles. A lot of them all over the pitch we won, some of them we didn’t and that’s the way it goes. Thankfully we won enough of them to get over the line.”

Moorefield manager Ross Glavin is on course for one of the most impressive first years of senior management that one can imagine. The Moores have already secured the Division 1 league title, and victory over Athy on Saturday means they will be favourites to capture the Senior Championship title on October 15.

Glavin was a proud man following his side’s fine performance against a team who were the bookmakers’ favourites for the championship, with three goals propelling them towards a final meeting with Celbridge.

“We’ve worked all year and our minimum target would have been to get to a county final and we’ve achieved that,” remarked Glavin following the win.

“Looking back on our performance immediately after the match, we’re just happy to be there. Semi-finals are tricky ones, and Athy were coming into red hot favourites for the whole championship, let alone to beat us today. We feel we’ve put in a good year so far; we went into this game full of confidence today.”

Like Celbridge in the game before, Moorefield’s defence stood up to the test of facing an attack that had been clicking superbly all through the year, and last year’s beaten county finalists managed to keep the likes of Cian Reynolds, Niall Kelly and James Eaton very much on the periphery, with only Liam McGovern and Darroch Mulhall ever really looking like they could inflict damage.

“Athy up front are a very dangerous outfit, everyone knows that,” said a rather content Glavin.

“They have very lively forwards. I think all year long our backs have been doing well and we didn’t do anything particularly different today; we placed responsibility on the players to do their jobs in their respective areas of the pitches, and if you’re a defender your job first and foremost is to mind the house. They did a good job today in fairness to them.”

At the opposite end of the field they have a man who is arguably the most lethal goalscorer in club football in the county at present, as Niall Hurley-Lynch bagged another couple of goals to give Moorefield a massive edge on Saturday. As Glavin says, as long as the corner-forward continues to bang in the goals he’ll stay on the team.

“I can’t remember the last game that Niall played when he didn’t score a goal so he’s doing the job we want him to do. It’s no different to the defenders at the other end shutting up shop and making sure we don’t concede. Niall’s doing the job in front of goal and that’s why he’s in the team.”

Another pleasing part of the performance for Glavin was the impact that Ryan Houlihan made from the bench. Houlihan, who was part of the Kildare senior panel last year, has been left on the sidelines for the last couple of games but has performed well when called upon. He helped to set up Hurley-Lynch’s killer second goal with a lung-busting run less than five minutes after coming on, essentially sealing the win for Moorefield.

“All year long we’ve been putting the onus on the starting 15 to work as hard as you can for as long as you can because we have plenty of competition for places whatever starting 15 we pick, so we’re going to have that ammunition coming in off the bench,” noted Glavin.

“When you’re sitting down to pick the team you’re saying ‘Ryan Houlihan is going really well here’, he was unfortunate not to start but he has the right attitude and he’s doing the job at the moment.”